A Florida woman was just convicted for her involvement in a scheme to threaten and vandalize a pro-life pregnancy center in 2022. According to a statement issued by the United States Department of Justice, Gabriella Oropesa of Cooper City was convicted last Thursday for her part in a conspiracy against employees of pro-life pregnancy centers. Others, including Caleb Freestone, Amber Stewart-Smith and Annabella Rivera had all previously pleaded guilty for their participation in this conspiracy.
The group was prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. This is a controversial federal law often used to prosecute pro-life activists who protest at abortion clinics. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said, “The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is clear: no one should have to face threats and intimidation just for doing their job.”
She went on to say, “The Justice Department will continue to ensure access to the full spectrum of reproductive health services afforded to the public, whether those services include abortion or counseling on alternatives to abortion.” The sentencing hearing is scheduled for early 2025, and she faces as much as 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge.
After a U.S. Supreme Court decision was leaked in 2022, a wave of attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers occurred. The high court would eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the polarizing 1973 decision that established abortion as a constitutional right. Just weeks after the Court struck down Roe, Freestone, and Smith-Stewart vandalized the Heartbeat of Miami Pregnancy Medical Help Clinic in Hialeah.
They spray-painted a message on the property that read “If abortions aren’t safe [then] neither are you” and vowed that “our rage will not stop.” The group would engage in additional attacks and threats against pro-life care centers in Florida, being tied to the June 26, 2022, vandalism of a Winter Haven-based pro-life pregnancy center, which included graffiti stating “YOUR TIME IS UP!!” “WE’RE COMING FOR U” and “We are everywhere.”
Last year, the individuals were arrested and charged for their violence. The majority pleaded guilty. The FACE Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, in response to an uptick in violence against abortion providers. At the time, Clinton said, “We simply cannot — we must not — continue to allow the attacks, the incidents of arson, the campaigns of intimidation upon law-abiding citizens that have given rise to this law.”
Clinton went on to say, “No person seeking medical care, no physician providing that care should have to endure harassment or threats or obstruction or intimidation or even murder from vigilantes who take the law into their own hands because they think they know what the law ought to be.” However, some activists have criticized the law for unfairly targeting pro-life advocates.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas introduced a bill to repeal the FACE Act, said in an announcement from the time that the federal law targets abortion opponents. “Biden’s Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life,” stated Roy. He also stated that the act was unconstitutional.